The New York Times condemns Dana White, The NAC and TBS Warner Discovery over Power Slap

New York Times columnist Kurt Streeter doesn’t hold back in his condemnation of Dana White’s latest venture

The New York Times is far and away the most influential media outlet in the United States, if not the world. “The Gray Lady” is the home of “all the news that’s fit to print” and since it is read by more opinion leaders, elected officials, and media influencers than any other outlet it is often called “The Paper of Record.”

As such, it’s never a good day for a business if it finds itself squarely in the cross-hairs of the NYT.

Today is Dana White’s turn in the barrel. Times columnist Kurt Streeter has been following the Power Slap League and calls it “an ugly undertaking masquerading as a sport”, “a display of pure punishment created for TV ratings, video views and money, money, money” and that’s just his warm up on the way to a comprehensive demolition of the indefensible.

Streeter quotes one-time Power Slap competitor Kortney Olson describing her appearance on the show as “an awful experience.”

Check this:

“When Olson was struck, she lost consciousness, then fell to the stage at the U.F.C. Apex in Las Vegas like a crunched-up soda can tossed away as litter.

“Instantly,” she told me, “it was lights out.” She got up but immediately fell into a forward roll. She struggled to her feet, wobbly and dazed. “Where am I? What am I doing here?” she recalled thinking.

“A slow-motion clip of the blow played on the TBS broadcast, her face being disfigured for a television audience of about 415,000 viewers. The camera cut to White, who watched in a room nearby, gleeful.

“White wants slap fighting to be the next thing. “Morons,” he calls his critics, pointing out that plenty were similarly dismissive of the U.F.C. and its predecessors in the past. He says that slap fighting, as he presents it, with safety checks and doctors on hand, is safer than boxing. “In Slap, they take three to five slaps per event. Fighters in boxing take 300 to 400 punches per fight,” he said, adding that if you don’t like it, don’t watch. He left out the fact that many slap fight participants take only one blow — and it knocks them out cold.”

In response to Dana’s name-calling, Streeter brings in a big gun: “Dr. Geoffrey Manley, a professor and vice chairman of neurological surgery at the University of California San Francisco.”

Manley says, “Hits to the side of the head — the only kinds allowed in slap fighting, where the cheek area is targeted — are by far the worst kinds of blows.”

Then Streeter turns his attention to the people behind Power Slap:

“What a world. What a disgrace.

Shame on the Nevada Athletic Commission, which sanctioned slap fighting late last year, giving it an air of official blessing.

TBS and its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, deserve scorn as well. They provide a glossy, highly produced platform for slap fighting, disregarding both the human toll and the way the fights undercut the broader push for athlete safety.

And he saves his biggest shot for the Slap Happy Pappy himself.

White is a multimillionaire who has wielded his power to keep people defenseless. Under his leadership, he has balked at U.F.C. fighters’ pleas for better pay. He also suffered no repercussions for publicly slapping his wife in January.

Of course he’s a Svengali for slap fighting. But there is no chance he would ever put himself in the dangerous, powerless position he’s pushing on others. Instead, he will watch from the sideline, gleeful.

Dana is currently working on a new video to insult and demean members of the media. I wonder if he’ll have the guts to take on The New York Times? Punching down at MMA blogs is one thing, but taking on “the paper of record” is a whole ‘nother thing. Good luck with that, Dana.